Ken Beck – PoOP 2014

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out at Jag Bags
The lyrical play, song craft and guitar wizardry is at an all-time high on this his fourth outing with the Jicks. How can one not chuckle with a song title like “Cinnamon and Lesbians”? Aside from Jeff Tweedy, I’d be hard pressed to find someone from the 90s this consistently great.

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]Beck – Morning Phase
If Sea Change were heroin on the musical narcotic scale, Morning Phase would be morphine. Does that make me a bad dad for having this album as the going-to-bed music for my son for the past year?

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]Mogwai – Rave Tapes
Up until now I hadn’t considered myself a fan of these Scottish post-rock/prog/krautian/math-rockers. Rave Tapes changed that with this their 8th album.

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]Ty Segall – Manipulator
I’d been hearing about this kid for a couple of years. Dabbled with 2012 “Twins,” which I was nonplussed about. “Manipulator” is the fully realized Ty Segall which all of his future releases will be measured against.

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
This album could have easily been released as the follow-up to Don Henley’s “End of the Innocence” or Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers”. But since it came out on indie label Secretly Canadian, it somehow makes it cool.

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]TWEEDY – Sukierae
Yep, more from the dad rock column. Probably didn’t need to be a double LP but it’s still thoroughly satisfying and the pacing is good. All the getting up and album flipping has left me winded.

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]Nude Beach – 77
On New Brunswick NJ’s Don Giovanni Records (go Jersey!), this record completely came as a surprise. Only mildly aware of them through their prior release on NYC’s Other Music in-house label. They’ve steadily digested the catalogs of The Byrds, Big Star, Badfinger and The Replacements and produced a leagues better double LP.

Buy New or Used via AmazonRent via iTunes [?]TV on the Radio – Seeds
After their unremarkable 2011 contract-fulfilling album for Interscope, they return with one less band member, a new label (Harvest) and thoroughly reinvigorated.